Update

Some of you may have noticed that the altitude on our payload seems to be changing, but hopefully that really isn't the case. GPS isn't very accurate that far South, so the fluctuations are to be expected. Then again it is possible our payload is getting dragged and we don't know it.

CREAM has been able to get two recovery flights in, they weren't able to go today however. They may require up to four flights, as they only get about 4 hours on the ground because of restrictions on how many hours a day the pilots can work.

At this point it appears a CSBF employee and I with the possibility of another member of ANITA will go to Siple Dome to recover ANITA. Siple Dome is a camp of three people about 100 nautical miles from the site of ANITA. It sounds like we will go to the recovery site during the day, and possibly ferry items back to camp throughout the day if we have plane support. I am scheduled to leave on Monday, with a possilbe return sometime between Wednesday and Friday with emphasis on possible. The return flight has not been scheduled and weather can always enter the picture. They warned us that weather can change in a matter of moments, which I have yet to see, but plans can change even quicker. As it stands, a C-130 should be going ot Siple Dome to recover the camp and our payload will be included.

Hopefully we will be able to recover the Taylor Dome items not long after my return from Siple Dome, but we will still have to wait for the C-130 to return to McMurdo with the gondola remains. It is possible that they will not be able to get a C-130 out there, in which case the gondola will remain through the winter at Siple Dome, but of course we won't be leaving until they it is recovered or it can't be recovered.

In other news the fuel tanker made it in a couple days ago, and has finished offloading all the fuel for the next year. The offloading took about two days with five 6 inch lines pumping diesel fuel, gasoline, and a lot of jet fuel into the storage tanks around McMurdo.








I would hope the sign would not be necessary. Apparently the tanker is a U.S. naval ship.












Not only was I impressed that there was that much ship below the waterline, but also that the water was that deep at the shoreline as there's still another 18 feet under the waterline at the bow. That is the icebreaker next to it.









LDB now has functional flush toilets. It's taken over three seasons to get them working, with a total cost in the six figures. Earlier this season the chemicals used to treat the waste had degraded in such a way as to produce some sort of volatile gas that eventually ignited. I personally don't see much value in the toilet, as the waste now just goes down a hole just like the pit toilets around LDB except these toilets use water that has to be trucked in.